Adam The God

Well, Nick Stevens wanted to play for Collingwood. They couldn't get the deal done, so Carlton snaffled him up. The same could happen with Adams, but I can't see it happening.

Sydney will be fixtured against Hawthorn first. Surely. Capitalise on the Buddy defection. I'm happy with whomever. It'd be nice to get someone relatively bottom 8ish though. I get what you mean though, P. Aren't we defeatists.

Facetious? Dunn isn't tough. He puts up a facade of "toughness", by jumper-punching behind the play. He's not tough at the ball or in the contest. He's also not a solid defender. Richards is.

Good on you, mate. : ) Well, at least you've been lucky enough to see us win a flag. I hope I can say the same when I'm in my 50s. I just hope it's not that long!

Is it a case of short-term memory here or unrealistic expectations, or both? We're not as bad as we showed in 2012-2013 and now we've got an A grade coach. Improved coaching will improve player output, but there are other vital factors that must be taken into account. For example, injuries could play a massive part for us, due to a lack of depth in the squad, particularly in the midfield. A lack of experience will also be a factor. Fingers crossed we get Cross. This will help, but won't bridge the gap entirely. Remember, Michie and Tyson haven't played a full season of games between them yet. Viney has only played half a season too. I've no doubt we'll be better than '13, but we're coming from an incredibly low base. You'd bloody hope so. I think it'd be worth watching a few of our final games of '13 again. We were legitimately the worst side I have ever seen. We deserved the spoon ahead of GWS. Realistically, a top 12-10 finish would be a coup. 2015 would be the year to aim for finals. Still, I love your optimism, but I hope you hang 'round if things go pear-shaped.

I hope we get to eat some humble pie, but I think we've also got to be realistic. Roos, two inexperienced mids and Bernie Vince are not going to get us into the 8 next year. A good result is between 8-10 wins. Finals should be the target for 2015 though.

I'm in the same boat, Ben, but from the little I've seen, I'd say the Freeman type would be hard to go past. He seems like a more explosive type of player. It sounds like he'd compliment our midfield group nicely. Explosiveness isn't something I see anywhere else in our midfield. I do like Dunstan though, on the little I've seen, and thought the exact same thing RE: Wines, when watching the Championships on TV.

I'd take Trenners in the centre square over McKenzie every day of the week. Even a slow, lethargic Trenners is a better proposition than McKenzie. Trengove can handball and kick. McKenzie is ordinary at both.

Perhaps you're right. I'd have Sewell before Jones and that's no slight against Jones. I just rate Sewell higher. He's had the support of Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis though, so it's a little unfair, I guess. Bugg sounds like the sort of guy we'd be targeting with a second round pick, next trade period. Particularly, if blokes like Clisby, Strauss and Terlich struggle in '14. Does a second round pick sound right? I hope we stay in his ear then.

I agree. We may need a tagger too, but let's see how McKenzie goes next season.

He's finished, IMO. Was at the end of 2012. In the ruck, he just falls in a heap straight off the centre bounce and then is unsighted around the ground.

Sewell's A grade for mine. Not a superstar, no, but that tier down. Really underrated. If he turns into another Sewell, I'd be all over him.

I love McKenzie's heart, but he's such a limited footballer. I hope Roos can turn him into a consistent, reliable tagger, but I won't be holding my breath.

Yeah, I'd agree with you, Ben, on Chip. He can run, carry and line break off CHB. It would also keep his opponent honest.

Haha, yeah. I was probably over stretching with my Josh Hunt comparison. Sorry about that. Perhaps I'll stick to P.

The flying V, you reckon, skills?

You might have a point RE: Toumpas' tackling, Paul. I also concur RE: Strauss. His defensive capabilities have left A LOT to be desired thus far, but his kicking is supposed to be a weapon. If he can add some body strength, this is going to sound strange, but he could fill that Josh Hunt type role. Except, he'd be more mobile. We need to find someone there. I've never been a big Jetta fan. He just seems like a really hard trier, but a very limited footballer. I can't identify a particular strength that he possesses. That's always held him back for me. What do you think he brings to the table? : )

Looking at some of these teams, I reckon we're still two to three midfielders away from our target. That said, I think we'll be more competitive next year. Let's say the aim for a side is to have 10 genuine midfielders that can rotate through the middle. Those players must also be able to contribute outside of the centre square. I would hope next season, the following names fill some of those slots: Jones, Viney, Tyson, Michie, Vince, pick #9 and I'm going to assume we still go for a player like Cross. That gives us seven genuine onballers (under the assumption that pick #9 will be a genuine onballer). The other guys that I would hope rotate through are Trengove (hopefully rejuvenated, having relinquished the captaincy) & McKenzie (if he can improve his decision-making and therefore probably disposal). In an improved side, I would hope Matt Jones would get less of a look in. The beauty is it may only take another draft/trade/FA period to add two to three mids. I'd look at one or two trades and then go to the draft with one or two of our high picks. Sure, Cross and Vince won't last us much longer, but with improved onfield performance, FA will become our friend. If we continue about our business in a similar fashion to trade period this year, we're probably two to three years from being a side that could compete for a finals birth. Given where we're coming from, that's heartening. Before I post my team, I'd say that Terlich may see reduced game time in '14. Roos seems to see what I see and that is a bloke that gets a fair bit of it, but butchers the ball and struggles to blanket his opponent. He has really poor defensive skills if you watch him closely in some '13 games. I think he'll give him one year and if there's no improvement, he'll move him on. Consequently, I won't include him in my team. (Bring that Demonland hate! ) Clisby Frawley Garland Grimes McDonald Toumpas Michie Jones Watts Vince Clark Trengove Hogan Dawes Kent Foll: Gawn Viney Tyson Int: Howe Pick #9 Cross Sub: Blease Emerg: McKenzie Fitzpatrick M Jones Toumpas' kicking will be of vital importance and that's why I'd play him off half back. The defensive side of his game can then be drilled and he can utilise his excellent kicking to help us rebound. The ability to hit targets coming out of the back half is paramount. How many bloody goals did we concede directly on the turn over this year? I'd hate to see the numbers. It'd be simply staggering. Kent seems like a Roos-type player to me. He's big-bodied, his disposal is good and he breaks the lines. If he can build up that tank, I could see him running both ways. Obviously not sold on his output thus far, but a pre-season or two under Roos and he may well get there. I'd have Watts on the wing. Roos has signalled his intentions with regards to Jack and his positioning. He may well float between wing and half forward, but I reckon like Toumpas, Watts' ability with ball in hand could be devastating. If he's well-drilled, lays tackles and runs hard both ways, he could become more damaging than Goddard in his prime. I truly believe that. I'm really hesitant to include Grimes, because I'm not a big fan of his decision-making and disposal. He can certainly win the ball, but he turns it over too much for mine. It's a dangerous position to be playing in, if one is turning it over too. However, for now, I'll put him on the back flank. Cilsby is the other guy I'm not completely sold on yet, but he's only played a few games and I'd back him in for the first few games of '14. If Strauss is still on our list by the end of this year, I'd be rotating between he and Clisby. We still lack that solid, small defender, though Garland is capable of shutting down those types. Finally, the major question I have of this line up, is the distinct lack of speed or line-breaking ability. Roos' style though is more about gut running and essentially running the opposition off their feet. So perhaps it's less about pace and more an issue of fitness? Enter Sam Blease. I've got him as the sub. He is one guy that could come on and inject a bit of pace into the game. Equally though, he is one with massive question marks over his tank and aerobic capacity/ability/potential. It'll be fascinating to see if Roos can get him working both ways and whether Misson can increase his tank.

"Mark Robinson clearly has little understanding". Summed up all that's worth mentioning in the title, Bubs.

Calm down.

Given he lived in Camberwell and went to Trinity, I'm going to put money on him being a Melbourne supporter growing up. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Thanks mate. Yeah. Sorry. Adam should really read a little more closely.

I watch 360 sometimes and he doesn't annoy me, so much as he makes me chuckle. He cannot string a sentence together. Given he's the head football writer at the Sun, it says all you really need to know about AFL journalism.

Also, we rejected the deal. Robinson is a funny little [censored].

NSC, didn't you say you'd have some more inside goss' after yesterday?